Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/148

Mackenzie tary of state for Scotland. He was included in the act of 19 May 1650, excluding 'persons from entering within the kingdom from beyond sea with his Majesty, until they give satisfaction to the church and state' (, Annals, iv. 14). On 27 Dec. the Act of Banishment against him was recalled (ib. p. 221). He, however, remained abroad, and died at Schiedam in Holland about 14 Oct. 1651. By his wife Barbara, daughter of Arthur, ninth lord Forbes, he had four sons — Kenneth, third earl (d. 1678), who was excepted from Cromwell's Act of Grace in 1654, was imprisoned till the Restoration, and was, on 23 April 1662, made sheriff of Ross; George, Colin, and Roderick — and three daughters: Jean married, first, to John, earl of Mar, and secondly, to Lord Fraser; Margaret, to Sir William Sinclair of Mey, and Barbara, to Sir John Urquhart of Cromarty. He had also a natural son, John, first of the family of Gruiard.  MACKENZIE, GEORGE (1636–1691), of Rosehaugh, king's advocate during the period of the covenanting persecution, and known in Scottish covenanting tradition as the 'Bloody Mackenzie,' eldest son of Simon Mackenzie of Lochslin, Ross-shire, brother of, second earl of Seaforth [q. v.], by Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Bruce, D.D., principal of St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews, was born at Dundee in 1636. Having completed his studies in Greek and philosophy at the universities of St. Andrews and Aberdeen, he went abroad before reaching his sixteenth year, and studied civil law at the university of Bourges in France. Returning to Scotland he was called to the bar at Edinburgh in January 1659, and after the Restoration he was readmitted in April 1661. All through life he manifested a continuous devotion to literary pursuits, but these were not permitted to interfere with his professional duties. His rise to eminence at the bar was exceptionally rapid. If in solid legal accomplishments he had several superiors, few excelled him in ready eloquence, or the adroit use of legal technicalities. In the earlier part of his career his sympathies were with the popular party rather than with the government; and in his 'Religious Stoic,' 1663, he declared that in contemplating the history of Christianity his heart bled when he considered 'how scaffolds were dyed with Christian blood, and the fields covered with the carcases of mutilated Christians.' In 1661 Mackenzie distinguished himself by the boldness of his defence of the Marquis of Argyll in his trial before the commission of the estates. Shortly afterwards he was appointed a justice-depute, or judge of the criminal court. Entering parliament in 1669, as member for the county of Ross, he made himself conspicuous by his persistent opposition to the policy of Lauderdale. When, in reply to the letter of the king at the opening of parliament, a proposal was brought forward for an incorporating union with England, Mackenzie moved the adjournment of the debate, and he afterwards moved that the house agree to a commission on union 'under such reservations as the Parliament should think necessary.' He denied, however, that his object was to defeat the union: what he wished to defeat was a too hasty decision. But his politic attitude irritated rather than mollified Lauderdale, who carried bis resentment so far as to meditate unseating him on the plea of his not being a freeholder. Lauderdale was only restrained from carrying out his purpose by the urgent persuasion of Sir Archibald Primrose (, Memoirs, p. 173). Mackenzie's principal rival at the bar was [q. v.], and their personal relations gradually became very bitter. Originally Mackenzie — probably from ternart when he and others were in 1674 debarred from pleading, on account of their appealing from the court of law to parliament; but he gradually changed his attitude towards the dispute, and it was chiefly through his influence and persuasion that the members of the bar were ultimately induced to give in their submission to the government (ib. pp. 267-810). His opinion was that they had stood out long enough to save their self-respect; but the terms of the surrender entirely dispose of such a plea. The incident is, however, chiefly notable as marking a turning-point in the career of Mackenzie. The service he had rendered to the government met with special appreciation; he received the honour of knighthood; and henceforth he became the strenuous supporter of Lauderdale and the king. On 23 Aug. 1677 he was, on the dismissal of [q. v.], appointed king's advocate, and on 4 Sept. he was admitted a privy councillor.

On his accession to office Mackenzie found the gaols full of prisoners who had been left untried by Nisbet, chiefly because he had' not been bribed either to prosecute or release 